This past Friday, WCU’s Softball Team took on Bloomsburg in a double header, where they went 1–1.
The Golden Rams went into the games with a record of 16–16 and were looking for a push as the season headed toward its potential close.
In their first game, the team started strong, making tons of contact with the ball — but they had no runs to show for it.
“We have been struggling the entire year with getting the big hit. That happens with a young team,” said Coach Diane Lokey on trying to hit well with runners in scoring position. “We are starting to get a few big hits and hopefully that will become contagious.”
Although the game had many hits, the score ended up being a bit low, and the runs were not coming that easily, possibly because of the great pitching.
“We were facing a strong pitcher and she shut us down,” said Lokey. “As the game progressed, their pitcher continued to get in a rhythm, and she was doing a good job hitting the pitch location.”
It was clear that West Chester’s pitching was solid and without a two-run slam in the second, the team would have only given up two runs.
“Our pitchers continue to grow throughout the season,” Lokey said. “They are gaining confidence with each outing and that is what we ask them to do: grow, learn and compete.”
Ultimately, game one ended with neither team getting much going offensively in the last three innings, quite different from the rest. With a final score of 4–2, the Golden Rams would have wanted to get those “big hits.”
Going into the second game of the double header, WCU still wanted to emphasize their defense.
“We continue to work on playing better defense,” said Lokey. “We lead the conference in many hitting categories, but we need to focus on taking care of the simple plays, and pitchers need to work to be better every outing.”
It was the same score (4–2) after just one inning, but this time West Chester had the lead.
The game ended high-scoring and even though the defense let up five runs, the Golden Rams put up eight runs. They clearly started getting those “big hits,” that Coach Loeky was speaking of.
They split this series with Bloomsburg on Friday and followed up by splitting the doubleheader with East Stroudsburg. Pitcher Makenize Edwards pitched a no-hitter in the first of two games on Saturday as WCU went on to win 1–0. The second game against East Stroudsburg was also low-scoring, but ended in a loss. Both games ended with West Chester only scoring three runs in each.
The next games for the Golden Rams are on April 21 as they travel to Lincoln University in another double header. West Chester’s next home game is against Chestnut Hill College on April 24.
As the season reaches its most important point, the Golden Rams are still at .500 with a record of 18–18. As these next games play out, the team will see if the postseason is their next chapter.
Timothy Smith is a senior Communication Studies major with a minor in Journalism. TS944841@wcupa.edu